Cairo April 10-16

Cairo is a huge, vibrant city. I was going to use the word “bustling” but somehow it doesn’t do justice to the intensity of life in the capital of Egypt. We were most impressed by the sophistication of Cairo. The modern sections are like Paris in many ways, with wide boulevards, stylish architecture, impressive squares, fashionable people and Peugeots everywhere, but with a distinctive Arab character. We shopped at the local vegetable market, bought bread and croissants at the bakery and ate delicious shawarma and falalfals at street-side stalls.

At any time of day or night the streets are packed and stop-and-go traffic seems the norm. Three or four policemen in smart uniforms are on every corner, but none seem to direct traffic and crossing the multiple lanes is a hair-raising game of chicken. On side streets pedestrians walk on the roadway as the sidewalks are crowded with stalls selling bread, vegetables, underwear, Kleenex and everything in between. Cafes spill out onto the sidewalks with men sipping tea and smoking hookahs. People are washing cars, shining shoes, fixing flats, or just hanging out. One evening we went to the Khan, a huge bazaar with miles of narrow alleyways lined with brightly lit shops selling anything you could imagine, and then some! Part of the experience was navigating crowds that Canadians normally see only in shopping malls the weeks before Christmas.

One of the main reasons we came to Egypt was to see a good friend from my university days, Rob Switzer and his family. The Switzers came in 1991 for a two-year contract at the American University in Cairo, and16 years later have no intentions of leaving. We saw quite a bit of Rob, Judy and their son Michael, who is the same age as our Robert. They were able to tell us many things to see and do in Egypt, and a high point of our stay in Cairo was a delightful afternoon on their balcony, and later dinner at a classy restaurant in Maadi, their neighbourhood. Rob and Judy are gifted conversationalists and time flew by talking about the old days, catching up on what we have been doing these past years, and of course asking them all about Cairo and Egypt.

Rob had arranged an apartment for us in Garden City, a district close to downtown laid out in the 1920s with art deco residences and elegant embassies, which have since been “in-filled” with bland office and apartment buildings. The location was ideal as we could walk to the Egyptian Museum and the Metro was only two blocks away. The apartment was quite large and bright with a well-equipped kitchen so we loved having a home after almost 3 months of staying in hotels and spent lots of time making meals, writing blogs, reading books and just being “at home”.

The two must-sees of Cairo are the pyramids and the Egyptian Museum. The Egyptian Museum is fabulous. This is where all the treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamon are displayed, as well as some actual mummies of Pharaohs from 1600-1400 BC, an entire wing of sarcophagi and an incredible array of artefacts. It was so interesting that after four hours the kids still wanted to stay and see “just one more room”. The Pyramids are the only remaining wonder of the world and they truly are a wonder to see. We took the metro and bus to get there as Giza is now a suburb of Cairo, but once away from the souvenir sellers and out on the plateau gazing at those huge monuments, one can feel transported far away in time. The kids went down into the tomb part of the pyramid, but Ann and Steve were too tall to fit in the tunnel (at least that’s our excuse!) A recent attraction at the Pyramids is the Solar Barque Museum where on display is the actual boat that was used to carry the mummy of Cheops across the Nile to his Pyramid in 3500BC. The barque was discovered in 1959 in a pit at the foot of the pyramid, but in remarkably good condition, and the museum is built over the pit where the boat was buried. Throughout Egypt we have seen so many ancient artefacts, but somehow seeing this wooden boat that is over 5000 years old, but looks quite like the fishing boats we had seen in Kerala, made the history seem so believable and real.

Next we are off to the Sinai to climb the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments, and to snorkel in the Red Sea.